- Crystal Palace vs Rayo Vallecano in Conference League final
- Read Crystal Palace predict the result
- Do the Eagles triumph in Leipzig?
This is it then for Crystal Palace and Oliver Glasner, who are just hours away from their story coming to an end. There’s no better way for the Austrian to bid farewell than to lift the UEFA Conference League trophy.
Standing in his and Palace’s way are a Rayo Vallecano team who are a real nuisance. The Spanish outfit have enjoyed an impressive European campaign.
The Eagles are favourites in a major fixture, perhaps for the first time in the club’s history. But that won’t be Glasner’s thinking when he puts out a team looking to win another major trophy in his final game in charge.
With that said, every member of the Read Crystal Palace team have given their predictions on how they see the game panning out.
Crystal Palace vs Rayo Vallecano – Preview
Palace and Rayo’s similarities are hard to ignore: two underdog teams punching way above their weight. And deservedly so, both have been the standout performers in this season’s Conference League.
Glasner’s men didn’t start their debut European campaign as well as hoped. In fact, they finished 10th, while Rayo secured third place. This meant that the South Londoners required the playoffs to advance to the knockout rounds.
Palace hit their stride at the turn of the year and have prevailed over AEK Larnaca, Fiorentina, and Shakhtar Donetsk. That includes a famous 3-0 win at home to the Italian side in the quarter-finals.
Rayo have tasted defeat twice on their journey to the final but saw off Samsunspor, AEK Athens and Strasbourg. The French outfit were favourites in the semi-final meeting but the La Liga side came out on top.
Glasner’s experience could prove crucial as he knows how to get the job done in European competition. The Austrian guided Eintracht Frankfurt to the Europa League in 2022 with a penalty shootout victory over Rangers.
Read Crystal Palace predictions
Matt Guyett (Lead editor)
A 2-1 win courtesy of a late Daichi Kamada winner is how I see tonight’s final panning out. That’d be some way for the Japanese midfielder to end his spell with the club.
Ismaila Sarr should bag yet another goal as he lands the Golden Boot with the opener. But Rayo gave Glasner a nervy finish with an Isi Palazon equaliser.
Henry Swain (Writer)
Henry went with a 3-0 win to Palace courtesy of goals from Yeremy Pino, Sarr and Jean-Philippe Mateta. That would have shades of the win over Fiorentina at Selhurst Park and an ideal ending for Glasner.
Grace Holloway (Writer)
Grace sees Palace nicking a 1-0 victory to hand Glasner another European trophy. Let’s hope that goal doesn’t come late as fans will have no nails left.
Josh Holloway (Socials and OurCPFC lead)
Josh is backing the Eagles to fly to glory with a 2-0 win and backs Sarr and Evann Guessand to be on the scoresheet. He reckons Sarr will also get himself an assist along with Pino.
Dylan Mann (Socials)
Dylan has predicted a 2-1 win to Palace and he’s tipped Brennan Johnson to write his name in the club’s history books with the winner. Maybe European finals are the Welshman’s forte after his winning goal in the Europa League last season.
